High Summer at the US Botanic Garden

In late August, I took a personal field trip to the US Botanic Garden, located on The Mall in downtown DC. It had been a while since I visited. The National Garden has grown in since its early days and was the site of lots of cleanup work the day I was there, so I didn’t photograph it. But the areas around the entrance to the building were awash with beautiful, full late-summer plantings, both in beds and containers, including those planted as an extension of the garden’s “Amber Waves of Grain” exhibit  (which remains up through October 13).  Hope you enjoy the photos!

“Amber Waves of Grain” raised beds – a summer exhibit at the USBG – get a grooming by a staff member.

Corn and annuals in the “Amber Waves of Grain” exhibit.

Container plantings between the National Garden and the entry court to the USBG building.

A view towards the Mall museums from the front of the USBG. Wooden benches invite visitors to sit.

Container plantings with annuals and tropicals.

The National Museum of the American Indian is visible from the entry court garden.

Bees at work on annual Verbena in the sidewalk beds.

High Summer at Green Spring Gardens

It’s high summer. Hot as you know what. Here in the metro DC area, gardens are starting to struggle (including mine). So  recently I decided to venture out to Green Spring Gardens, in Alexandria VA, a  Fairfax County public garden known for its great plantings (as well as its excellent educational offerings for gardeners). I wanted to see what was blooming, or otherwise looking good, despite the challenging summer climate. Here’s what I found – an impressive mix of annuals, perennials, shrubs and trees. If you live in the area, take a road trip for yourself!

Castor bean plants make a bold statement among coleus and other annuals and perennials in the parking lot beds.

The garden’s arbor, framed by crape myrtle blooms and the driveway’s perennial border

Joe Pye weed near the conservatory

Sunflowers!

Bee balm (monarda) and Cornus sericaea ‘Sunshine’

Tall sunflowers in front of Joe pye weed.

Even in the shade, the garden’s borders are impressive. Oakleaf hydrangea and Verbascum play off each other.

Golden cypress, smoketree in bloom, and orange perennials combine to wonderful effect.

Bees enjoying the thistles near the vegetable garden.

Chastetree in bloom near the visitors’ center.

A small seating area behind the visitors’ center with a wide variety of plantings.

Bees everywhere.

At the back of the visitors’ center, a garden of succulents and tropicals.

A brilliantly colored wall sets off cactus and other xeriscape plants.

 Garden Shoots will be on vacation until after Labor Day. See you in September!

Garden Spots in Havana

A couple of weeks ago, I returned from a week in Cuba with the Santa Fe Photographic Workshops. I went to see Cuba before (as one of our group members put it)  “there’s a Starbucks on every corner.” It was an incredible trip, and I’m already planning to return next year if I can.

I didn’t go to photograph gardens, and the photos I took for the most part fell into other themes – architecture, people, cultural events, and the city itself. More of those images later. But to my surprise, there were plants and parks everywhere. Plants on balconies in pots. Lushly planted pocket/plaza parks. Bougainvillea growing up the sides of buildings. And in some cases, ferns sprouting out of cracks in the facades of some of the older, crumbling  but still magnificent edifices that serve as businesses or in-town tenement apartments. While I work on my other images (too many!), here are a few photos of green spaces in Havana.

Bougainvillea growing in the Plaza Cathedral in central Havana.

A variety of pots with tropical plants on the second floor apartments surrounding a square.

More consistency here, but look how large the plants are growing!

Workers setting out new plants (annuals here, probably perennials there) in a small park in a central Havana.

Cubans can be found at any time of day (or night) in the many parks dotting the center of Havana.

This looked like a self-seeded plant (or maybe a container plant) that has been allowed to grow ad infinitum.

Havana residents use their balconies to dry laundry and grow plants.

A rare ‘gated garden’ like you might see in Charleston or Georgetown.

Plants on a balcony above a restaurant spill over and soften the walls.

Powell Street Promenade

In July I headed to the Bay Area for a few days, camera in hand, to visit one of my sons. I had one full day, and several mornings, to devote to photography in and around where I was staying – the Union Square area of San Francisco. Yup, near all those “little cable cars.”

The cable cars’ routes include one up and down Powell Street, turning around at the BART station of the same name. iPhone photo via Hipstamatic.

I was planning primarily to shoot architectural sights while there (and some of those will be featured in a later post). Imagine my surprise when right outside my door was an innovative landscape project by Walter Hood, the Powell Street Promenade.

Underwritten by Audi at a cost of $890,000, the Promenade consists of eight six-foot-wide “parklets,” carved out of traffic lanes and abutting the sidewalk.  Given the huge numbers of tourists travelling Powell Street on a regular basis, having an attractive, protected spot to step out of the flow of people and chat with friends, sit down for a bit, or park your bike while you make a call or stop in a store is a great idea.

These aluminum structures can be used as little tables for a snack or to rest your packages on.

A bike rider takes a break to chat with a friend on the Promenade.

There are a few built-in benches, which always seemed in high demand.

A pedestrian takes a break, out of the flow of the constant sidewalk traffic.

All of the structures are fabricated from aluminum, which forms “rail ribbons.” They include planters with narrow borders that can double as a seating area in a pinch (I recognized a few plants such as Mexican heather and Yucca, others were not familiar to my East Coast eyes), guardrails to protect against the busy Powell Street traffic, and the “tables” and lower versions that Hood has suggested could be used for sleeping as well as sitting benches. No advertising is allowed in the areas, which boast free Wi-Fi. (How very Silicon Valley!)

For more details on this project, check out this blog post from the San Francisco outpost of Streetsblog. And the next time you’re in the City by the Bay, in the vicinity of Union Square, be sure not to miss this innovative design feature on Powell Street!